British Columbia Fishing Blog

Once again I have made my routine winter migration this week. Unlike the snow geese, I head toward the colder part of the world. Denmark will be the blog headquarter in the next two months and I hope to bring readers some interesting entries on fishing in the Baltic area. Perhaps I will also mix in some cultural readings as well.

While waiting to board at the Vancouver International Airport, I thoroughly enjoyed looking at the kelp forest aquarium. The exhibit houses a few common saltwater species found along the coast of British Columbia, including black, copper, canary rockfish and striped perch. I will have a video of this exhibit available soon. In the meantime, here is a photo of it.

Here are a few aerial shots.

Everyone’s favorite bridge in Vancouver.

An island around Southeastern Denmark.

Flying over agricultural land, lightly dusted with snow, just before we landed in Copenhagen.

While fishing around Steveston in the last several weeks, we have seen hundreds of snow geese flying above us in the evening times. If people recall, last year they had taken over school grounds around Richmond and Ladner by early November. This year they have stayed around the marches and wetlands between Sturgeon Bank and Ladner. Perhaps the difference in weather trend is the factor that determines what land they would occupy. The last few days they have started using school and park grounds again. This morning I found them at a school near our place so of course I rushed back home and grabbed the camera to capture some shots.

One of the projects that I have been involved in this fall is a video presentation of snow geese by the Richmond Nature Park Society, which should be available in early 2009. Occupation of snow geese at school grounds is a classic example of the effect of urbanization on wildlife. They are not endangered, not according to the Species at Risk registry. In the 20th century, the populations declined significantly like many other species, but have since recovered. Some consider the recovery too successful as they have reached carrying capacity in their breeding grounds in the tundra region, which affects other species in the area.

When I hooked the finest looking bull trout of this season, a tug boat moved by at a good pace. The waves generated made the battle quite interesting. Thanks to Carlo Ng for taking this photographic sequence.

Even though the rain died off this afternoon, the easterly wind just didn’t want to go away. I kept looking out the window and the temptation was finally too much. I grabbed the ultralight spinning rod and headed to Garry Point Park once again just after flood tide at 3:00pm.

Normally I prefer to fish from the rocks and the amount of fishable water is actually quite limited. Seeing how strong the wind was blowing, I decided to try fishing from the beach today. With no waders, I had to whip the tiny spinner out as far as possible and retrieving quickly when it reached the shallows. This switch of tactic paid off today. It was exciting fishing! I managed to connect with four bull trout. One measured 20in, one 18in and two around 16in. Three of the fish were hooked in just several inches deep. They must have chased the spinner right in and grabbed it before water ran out. A few swirls were seen at times right behind the spinner when I brought it out of the water. All four fish were fat, unlike the skinny snakes that were caught last week.

Today we had the pleasure to fish with Al Belhuemer of Pro Line Sports on the Fraser River. Somehow our only sturgeon day of the year became the wettest as well. The forecasted 30mm rain was delivered. White caps and tide change arrived two hours into fishing, sending the boat spinning around, which made fishing extremely challenging. The first six hours produced two fish, but perseverance paid off once again as the last 1.5 hours resulted in six hook-ups, including two double hook-ups. Largest fish of the day was 5’6″.

Anticipation in the rain

A prized catch, hanging onto the roe sac

Slimed and pleased